In her other life—the boring one before she began writing fiction for teens and middle grade readers—C. Lee was a teacher and administrator at California State University, San Jose. Her field of Linguistics and Inter-cultural Communication has carried her to a lot of places in the world to explore different cultures and languages. She can say, “Where’s the toilet?” and “I’m lost!” in at least five languages and two dialects.

If she had three wishes her first would be to have more wishes. Her second would be to receive warning labels for any wish she made. Like, “If you actually find the money to buy a hundred-room castle in Scotland you’ll have to clean it yourself.” Or, “If you win the million-dollar lottery, all your relatives will visit.” Her third wish might be to cancel the first two wishes.

Her idea of a perfect day is one or all of the following: starting a new novel, finishing writing a blockbuster novel, hiking on a misty morning trail in the Santa Cruz Mountains, saying Namaste after a great yoga practice, sipping a cappuccino topped with chocolate at a bustling café, reading in front of a fire with snow outside, swimming in an ocean someplace.

When she began writing for younger readers, she joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. That group has mentored her, helping her understand how to write in a whole new way and for a very different audience.Two of her most recently published stories are online in Stories for Children. Stringbean and Pickles They also published one of her articles titled WormsHer stories, The Ghostly Double (Spring 08) and Lost At Devil's Table (Fall '08),appeared in Crow Toes Quarterly.In January '08 she sold her first young adult novel, Sliding on the Edge, to Evelyn Fazio at Westside Books. It will be out April 24th.